Blair O'Neal came this close to winning "Big Break Prince Edward Island" and the $100,000 first prize. But, alas, she lost in the championship match to Derek Gillespie.

But it was a fantastic showing for Blair. Let's face it, many people who have seen Blair on various sports blogs or modeling in the pages of a magazine the past couple years probably had no idea that could actually play the game. As her modeling career took off over those years, she pulled back from competitive golf.

But she's getting back into competition these days. Not just through her "Big Break" appearance, but also playing in USGA qualifiers and on the Cactus Tour.

Diana Luna is the winner of the 2009 AIB Ladies Irish Open, played at Portmarnock, on the Ladies European Tour. Luna, from Italy, finished four strokes clear of the runners-up, which includes Sophie Gustafson.

Luna finished second earlier this year at the ABN AMRO Ladies Open, and the Irish Open win is her second on the LET. She also won the Tenerife Ladies Open in 2004, which was the year of her best showing on the money list (13th).

Jennifer Song is the 2009 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links champion. Song defeated Kimberly Kim in the championship match, 7 and 6. Song was the runner-up in the '08 Women's Publinx.

Song was born in Michigan but grew up in Korea and has dual citizenship. That allowed her to be a member of the Korean National Team while also serving as an alternate on the 2008 American Curtis Cup squad. (Which begs the question - will she play for the East or West team in a future Lexus Cup?)

Song recently completed her freshman season on the Southern Cal women's golf team, and it was a good one: She was named national Freshman of the Year by the National Golf Coaches Association. Song led the USC team in scoring average, was named first-team All-American, and finished the season ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek collegiate rankings.

Cheyenne Woods just completed her first-ever appearance in an LPGA Tour tournament, the 2009 Wegmans LPGA. And she had a pretty solid showing, shooting 75-74 to finish 5-over. Now that this adventure is over, Woods will return to getting ready for the 2009-10 collegiate season at Wake Forest, where she will be a sophomore. You can view more pics of Cheyenne here or here.

This is written at the conclusion of play on Day 1 of the 2009 Wegmans LPGA. And second-year LPGA player Sandra Gal is at the top of the leaderboard after a scorching 64. Sandra is having a solid year so far in '09 with one Top 5 finish and two other Top 20 finishes thus far.

Golf Babes readers are well-acquainted with our friend Marousa Polias (see previous posts about Marousa). Marousa is an Aussie golfer who plays on the Australian Ladies Golf Tour and the Ladies European Tour.

But most folks out there probably have no idea who, or what, Como!Come! means. Unless you are familiar with Japanese golf products. But that will be changing soon, because Como!Come! - a Japanese brand of, in Marousa's words, "cute, cute golf accessories" - has launched an English-language version of its Web site to make its products available worldwide.

And Como!Come! is now sponsoring Marousa, too. But you probably could have guessed that from the photo! Como!Come! makes, among other things, golf bags, headcovers, shirts, sweaters, and something they call "baby tails" (you'll have to explore the Web site to figure that one out).

We're always happy when young female professionals pick up a new sponsor, especially in this economy, so good for Marousa. Check out the Como!Come! English-language site here.

It was an off week on the LPGA, but that doesn't mean there wasn't some movement in the women's world rankings. They do play golf in other parts of the globe, too, you know. In Japan, for example, where Sakura Yokomine won her third JLPGA title of the year at the Nichirei PGM Ladies. That victory moved Yokomine up to No. 17 in the world rankings. The Constructivist has the details, as he always does for the Japanese women's tour.

Whitney Wade was this past weekend's champion on the Duramed Futures Tour, closing with a 66 to finish with a one-stroke win at the Duramed Championship. The win came on Father's Day, and with Whitney's dad as her caddie.

It's the first Futures Tour win for Whitney, who turned pro in 2007 after a college career at the University of Georgia. But Whitney first made headlines in the golf world at age 13 by winning the Kentucky State Amateur Championship in 1999, something she did the following two years, as well.

She was a member of the 2005 U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team, a four-time All-SEC selection in college, and won the 2007 Kentucky State Open and 2008 Ohio Women's Open.

And last season was Whitney's first on the Futures Tour. She made a pretty good debut, too, making the cut in all but one of her 15 events and posting a couple Top 10s. And now she's a winner on the Futures, and that victory vaulted Whitney into the Top 10 on the money list.

It wasn't Whitney's first win of 2009, however; a few weeks ago she won the Colorado Women's Open.

Anna Nordqvist always makes an impression. She's a 6-foot blonde, after all, and from Sweden, no less.

Now she has something in common with her idol, Annika Sorenstam, beyond just her country of origin and hair color. Now Anna is a major champion. Some might say she came out of nowhere to win the 2009 McDonalds LPGA Championship, but she really came out of a superb junior program in Sweden and college program at Arizona State. Avid followers of women's golf have known for some time about Anna's potential to be the next great Swede.

She's not the next great Swede just yet, of course. She has to back up this victory with others. But she certainly has now made an impression on the golf world.

Azahara Munoz recently completed her senior season at Arizona State University, and later this summer will turn pro. But in-between, on Saturday, she won the British Ladies Amateur Championship.

Munoz, from Spain, defeated her countrywoman and Arizona State teammate Carlota Ciganda in the final. But it's not Munoz's first big win. She was the 2008 NCAA individual champion. She also finished second in the U.S. Women's Amateur in 2008, and earlier this year played in the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship and made the cut. Munoz plans to turn pro following the U.S. Women's Open in a few weeks.

Mina Harigae was the winner of last week's Duramed Futures Tour event, the Ladies Titan Tire Challenge. The victory pushed Mina to the top of the money list, and she also leads the tour in scoring average through the early part of the season.

Harigae, a California native, had a stellar junior and amateur career, earning a post on the U.S. Junior Solheim Cup team in 2005 and 2007; winning the California Women's Amateur Championship four times (the first time at age 13); winning the 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship; and being a member of the 2008 U.S. Curtis Cup squad.

She played college golf at Duke for one season, then left school to turn pro earlier this year. And now, as a rookie, Harigae is (statistically) the best player on the Futures Tour through the early part of the season.

Win No. 2 for In-Kyung Kim on the LPGA Tour at the State Farm Classic. And win No. 2 was overdue for IK - already in 2009 she had finished third at the J Golf, second at Michelob, fifth at Sybase. She seems to get into contention quite a bit these days, and more wins are sure to follow.

Se Ri Pak shared the first-round lead at the State Farm Classic, and as I write this brief note shares the second-round lead. I don't care where she finishes, although I hope she wins. It's just really nice to see Se Ri on the leaderboard again.